Use departments to name the people who lead a team, limit how long the team can book desks and rooms each day, and choose which desk zones the team sees first.

Before you start

• Select the location you want to manage.
• You need permission to view Departments to open Directory > Departments. To add or change a department you also need permission to create or update it.
• To choose a department head or deputy head, the employee must already exist in Directory > Employees and must have a Vizmo account linked to their employee record.
• To set zone priorities, create your zones first. See Create and manage zones.

Create or edit a department

1. Go to Directory > Departments.

   

2. Click Add to create a department, or click a row (or its Edit icon) to change one.
3. Enter the Department Name. This is required, and each name can be used only once.
4. Optional: choose a Department Head and a Department Deputy Head. They must be two different employees, and you can leave either one empty. Approval rules can send requests to these people. See Use department leaders as approvers below.
5. Optional: under Total Booking Duration Allowed Per Day (in mins), enter a limit for Desk Booking and for Room Booking. For example, 120 allows two hours a day. Enter -1 for no limit, or leave a field empty to use the next limit (see How booking limits are chosen below).
6. Optional: under Select Zone Priory List, choose zones in the order you want them. The first zone has the highest priority. To change the order, remove the zones and choose them again in the new order. The heading is spelt this way on screen.

   

7. Click Save. The panel closes and Vizmo shows a confirmation.

Add employees to the department

Creating a department does not move anyone into it. Choose each employee's department in their details. See View and manage employee details in Directory.

How booking limits are chosen

Vizmo uses the first limit it finds in this order:

1. The employee's own limit, set in the employee's details.
2. The employee's designation. See Set reporting designations and view the Organisation Tree.
3. The employee's department.
4. The desk or room limit for the location.

A limit that has been set, including -1, always wins over the ones below it. A field you leave empty is skipped.

How zone priorities work

When an employee books a desk or a parking space, Vizmo lists the ones in higher-priority zones first. It uses the zone order set in the employee's own details if they have one. If not, it uses the department's zone order. Desks and parking spaces in zones that are not on the list come last.

Two desk settings change what the employee sees. Open Desks > Settings and look for these toggles:

• Auto Desk Allocation: Vizmo picks a desk for the employee when they start a booking, using the zone priority.
• Hide Lower Priority Zone Desks: employees see only the desks in their top-priority zone. If that zone has no free desks, they see the desks in lower-priority zones.

Zone priority does not create zones or put desks in zones. See Assign a zone to a desk.

Use department leaders as approvers

In an approval rule, you can choose a department head or deputy head as the approver, for example the booker's department head. Availability: if this option is greyed out or missing, contact your Vizmo account manager. See Set up multi-level approvals for desk, room and parking bookings.

Troubleshooting

• You cannot see Add, Edit or Save. You need permission to create or update departments. Ask your company admin.
• "Department already exists". Use a different name, or edit the existing department.
• "Department head and deputy head must be different employees". Choose a different person for one of the two positions.
• "Selected department head does not have a linked user" (or deputy head). That employee has no Vizmo account linked yet. Choose a different employee.
• "No Zone Mapped". There are no zones at this location. Create zones first, or save the department without zone priorities.
• A booking limit or zone order is not what you expect. Check the employee's own details, their designation and department, and the location settings, in that order.